The New School
ER-9: Sustainability Learning Outcomes

BA in Environmental Studies BS in Environmental Studies

The Environmental Studies degree programs are designed to ensure that students graduate with specific knowledge and capabilities desired by potential employers and graduate schools. General understandings of: * The history of environmentalism and environmental politics * Basic and advanced ecology, with particular focus on urbanized regions * The properties of chemicals and their impacts on the ecosystem * Evidence-based research methods to understand environmental change * Understanding and interpreting quantitative changes to the environment * Testing relationships between causes and effects in the environment * Economics and decision-making * Social and political processes that affect the environment * Urban systems and the use of resources * Design methods to change consumption patterns * Geographic differences in environmental conditions * Public policies that affect the environment * Environmental risk and risk disparities * The role of science in establishing environmental policies * Visualizing information to inform and persuade Specific capabilities to: * Design and carry out an environmental research project * Analyze water and air quality * Diagram basic ecological processes, such as water and carbon cycles * Map materials flows * Interpret comparative lifecycle assessments * Analyze whole-of-life costing * Gather and analyze social and demographic data * Map social and environmental data and interpret the results * Critique an environmental risk assessment * Develop soft systems maps of interrelated urban constraints and variables * Devise field tests and prototypes of sustainable designs * Observe and analyze urban environmental behaviors * Conduct basic surveys * Do basic descriptive and inferential statistics * Use design, mapping, and statistical software * Research, analyze, and write about environmental issues * Participate in government decision-making at local, state, and national levels * Organize and work in teams to solve complex problems